Barkley rips Suns management

Former NBA star Charles Barkley, now an analyst on TNT, heavily criticized the Phoenix Suns' management and said he was interested in the vacant general manager job during a radio interview this week.

Barkley, who played for the Suns in the 1990s, told Phoenix radio station KGME 910 AM that his former team is poorly run.

The transcript of his comments ran in the Arizona Republic.

"The Suns are the Titanic," Barkley said. "So the notion that I can't do better than them is ridiculous. The Suns stink. So whoever has been rowing the boat has just done a horrific job so let's just get that straight and out of the way.

"I made it perfectly clear that I'm going to be a GM. The Suns know my number. They know that I want to be a GM. I've had a couple opportunities that wasn't very good. I mean I'm not going to give up a great job unless I get what I want. I'm in the driver's seat. I don't need their job. I want to be a GM." The Suns fired general manager Lance Blanks after finishing a 21-61 season, the franchise's second-worst showing in its history.

"Listen, the people who have been running that ship, crashed and burned it," he said. "... Their track record is not that good down there. I don't know Lon Babby that well. And I don't know Robert (Sarver) that well. Robert has always treated me good. But the notion that I would let Lon and Robert tell me about basketball players. That's not going to happen.